We Are Not Enemy

This work emerged from watching how the farmer—the very backbone of our survival—is repeatedly framed as a threat. During protests, during land acquisition drives, during movements for minimum support price—whenever the farmer raises their voice, they’re met not with policy or empathy, but with drones, tear gas, and guns.

In this print, I wanted to reverse the lens. The central figure is faceless, composed entirely of green limbs and golden harvest—because farmers are not just individuals; they are living embodiments of the land and grain we consume. But this figure is also being hunted—targeted from all sides by state machinery: rifles, boots, drones, tanks.

I painted the text “We are not enemies” to reclaim the narrative. It’s not just a slogan—it’s a cry for recognition. Another sign reads “It's not war land”, pointing to how fields meant for cultivation are turned into battle zones during political conflict or land grabs.

The visual language borrows from resistance posters and protest woodcuts—because that’s what this is. Not just art, but resistance.

This piece asks one simple, uncomfortable question:

Why does it scare the state when the hand that feeds us dares to rise?

I am not mythologizing the farmer—I am humanizing them. And I am reminding us all that food is political, and the people who grow it are not collateral—they are the frontline.